Took me 6 trips to the airport to figure out I was packing wrong

I kept showing up to LAX with my carry-on way over the size limit and getting flagged at the gate. Turns out those little box things they have to test your bag are actually smaller than the official dimensions say online. I measured my bag at home, it fit their numbers, but it got stuck every single time. After 4 months of frustration, I finally noticed the bag sizers at the terminal are slightly curved inside. Nobody talks about that. Anyone else run into this with a specific airline at a certain airport?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewsullivan13d ago

Those little box things they have to test your bag are actually smaller" is the key detail most people miss. The curved walls inside the sizers eat up an inch or two of space that you didn't account for, so your hard sided bag that measures fine at home won't slide in straight. I've seen Frontier pull this the worst at Denver, their sizers are practically booby trapped with those inward curves.

michaeljones13d ago

Practically booby trapped" is the perfect way to describe those things. I swear they design them to catch the bag that's exactly at the limit so they can squeeze that gate fee out of you. Makes you want to bring a tape measure and a crowbar to the gate.